《生命科学》 2017, 29(3): 292-301
摘 要：摘 要：模式植物对遗传学和分子生物学前沿理论探索和实践研究至关重要。玉米、拟南芥和水稻等主要的模式植物，在植物遗传学发展的不同时期发挥了不可替代的作用，但随着研究的深入和细化，迫切需要更多别具特色的物种成为模式植物。谷子(Setaria italia) 及其野生种青狗尾草(S. viridis) 因具备C4 光合途径和特殊的抗旱耐逆性备受关注，谷子也因其较小的二倍体基因组、自花授粉、高繁殖系数、较小的株高和易于操作的栽培方法，以及生育周期短、易于快速繁殖等特点，非常适合作为分子遗传学研究的模式植物，近年来作为C4 和抗旱耐逆研究的模式系统越来越受到国际植物遗传学界的关注。谷子是起源于中国的古老农作物，我国拥有最丰富的遗传资源，并在遗传育种研究上处于领先。现简述我国谷子的研究基础，综述近年来谷子和青狗尾草作为模式作物的研究进展，讨论相关研究存在的问题，并对谷子遗传研究的发展趋势进行展望。
Abstract: Abstract: Model organisms play a significant role in enabling new scientific discovery and the development of new technologies. Discoveries in early genetic models such as maize (Zea mays)， Arabidopsis and rice (Oryza sativa) laid the foundations for modern genetics. Flowering plants are an extremely diverse group of species. Although early model organisms were suitable for answering questions about fundamental mechanisms that are conserved across all plant species， many traits and systems of particular importance to humans are found only in specific plant lineages. Characterizing these lineage-specific systems requires the identification and development of new model species. The biological nature of two species of Setaria， domesticated foxtail millet (S. italica) and its wild ancestor green foxtail (S. viridis)， make them ideal models for functional genomics studies of C4 photosynthesis and abiotic stress tolerance in the panicoid grasses. Both species are diploid and have tractably small genomes， short generation times， self pollinating nature， prolific per plant seed production， small morphological stature and suitable easier cultivation method. Foxtail millet was one of the earliest crop species to be domesticated in China， where efforts to develop improved elite varieties of foxtail millet is centered. In this review， progresses on genetic deciphering of pivotal agronomic traits of this emerging model will be summarized and trends of related studies will be discussed.
